Auteur
South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service
Résumé
Firefighters had always been considered as Men of Steel. Part of Critical Incident Stress Management system was to establish a Peer Support Program made up of co-workers. The Peers were there to share their experiences and normalise what was a new process of addressing stressful issues in their roles as firefighters.
Mots-clés
Peer support ; critical incident stress management ; firefighters ; family support
HOW IT ALL STARTED
- A Brief History
F |
irefighters had always been considered as Men of Steel. We knew this to be detrimental and were looking for a way to change this culture. In 1985 Mick Smith saw a video in America on Critical Incident Stress Management. Over the next few years he developed a strategy to introduce this system of staff support into our fire service. In 1990 a number of fire service personnel attended a Critical Incident Stress Management seminar in Melbourne featuring Jeffrey Mitchell. This gave us a framework to psychologically debrief our crews and started us down the road of cultural change within the emergency services.
PEER SUPPORT
Part of Critical Incident Stress Management system was to establish a Peer Support Program made up of co-workers. This also involved utilising mental health professionals to run the debrief. The initial idea of having the co-workers involved was as an interpreting service so that the psychologists and other mental health professionals could understand “Emergency Service Speak”. The Peers were also there to share their experiences and normalise what was a new process of addressing stressful issues in their roles as firefighters. Peers very quickly became, and remain the driving force behind Critical Incident Stress Management.
Our service has been fortunate that our late Chief Officer, Mike Bentley was involved in the program at its inception, at that time he was a District Officer, he later became the patron for the Peer Support Team. His participation gave a great deal of credibility to the program and he was always very supportive of our endeavours. Peers have directed the evolution of Critical Incident Stress Management and as a result of this involvement Senior Management listened to the Peers, because they were the personnel working at the coalface. Senior management can sometimes have a problem relating to the frontline workers but are usually receptive to feedback from the ground floor because the peers have a proven track record.
Probably the most crucial aspect of Peer Support is maintaining confidentiality and it is very gratifying to note that in all the years since its inception confidentiality has never been breached. Statistics in SAMFS show that Critical Incident Stress Management Works.
Excluding Vietnam Veterans; the number of stress related workers compensation claims within the SA Metropolitan Fire Service has been falling over the last few years. The reason that I exclude Viet Nam Veterans is on the assumption that many of these stress related claims might result from trauma received as a result of their experiences in Vietnam and not as a result of their work with the fire service.
PEERS DRIVING THE PROGRAM
Peers have requested additions to Peer support and then collaborated on:
* New Handouts * Employee Assistance Program
* Promotional Posters * Retirement Information
* Training new Peers * Health Issues
PEER TRAINING
Peers are an excellent resource for training new entrants into the peer support program
* They have built up experience and credibility.
* Can answer questions about the program.
* They know what is expected of them.
* Have anecdotal experiences to draw on.
* Great advocates of the program.
EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
It has long been recognised that the head we wear to work is the same one that we wear at home and so it is beneficial for an organisation to assist its employees with personal problems such as relationship, health and family issues. Relationship issues are by far and away the most common reason for accessing the EAP. Drug and alcohol problems rate as the second most common reason. Family problems with teenagers are another example of the myriad of other problems being discussed.
FAMILY SUPPORT GROUP
The Family Support Group is being set up to help support the families of our employees. As Dr Jennie Ward-Robinson showed in her keynote address “Work Stress” spills over into the family from the workplace. I believe this gives us, at least a moral responsibility of supporting the families of our workers. We are currently going through the process of setting up the Family Support Group. It is important to establish the charter under which the Family Support Group will operate to ensure its long-term success.
Some of the issues are:
* Understanding how Critical Incident Stress affects their partners.
Educating the partners of our firefighters will be useful in helping them understand what they are going through after a Critical Incident.
* Children becoming frightened when they see firefighters on the news.
I was surprised when this issue was brought to my attention and shows that there are still many ways that we can help support the families of our firefighters that we haven’t even yet considered.
* Difficulties with shift work.
This is a more obvious problem but we haven’t yet explored ways in which we can help families to deal with it.
Retirement Information Sessions provide advice on:
* Volunteer programs that give retiring firefighters the opportunity of continuing to assist the public.
Firefighters have dedicated their entire career to helping others. Volunteer work is one way of continuing that lifestyle and the validation that it brings them.
* Financial management.
This is one area where there is quite a lot of advice and assistance already being offered but not in a coordinated way. We are trying to ensure that all the help being offered is synchronised to ensure that we are providing the best possible service and that everyone is aware of what is being offered.
* Retirees Association - meets every second month for lunch.
This is organized through the United Firefighters Union office. It is an excellent way of maintaining driendships after retiremenet
HEALTH ISSUES
Health issues, which are often related to stress, were raised as an area that we could become involved in and have since been drawn into the program. These include:
* Quit Smoking Campaign.
We ran a quit smoking seminar and continue to provide financial reimbursement for people on nicotine replacement therapy on a one off basis.
* Prostate Cancer Information.
This came about when one of our firefighters was diagnosed with this condition and wanted to raise the awareness of this condition amongst his colleagues. Since then we have been promoting annual checkups for this condition for our male staff over the age of fifty.
* Diabetes Information.
Recently there has been a lot of attention in the media about the rapidly increasing incidence of this condition and we are looking at ways in which we can better inform our staff to help prevent them becoming victims.
You may be wondering by now what some of these programs have to do with Peer Support. I see them as part of a holistic approach to caring for our firefighters.
LESSONS LEARNT
All these programs have been driven by the peers and employees.
* Listen to your people.
All these programs have been suggested by our own staff.
* Consider their needs and act on them.
All that is usually required is some guidance in organising the right resources needed to make things happen. As Michael Tunnecliffe said at the pre-conference workshops, You can avoid spending a lot of money if you have planned thoroughly.
* Monitor your programs and strive for continuous improvement.
Don’t rest on your laurels; Dr Jennie Ward-Robinson challenged us to continuously evaluate your programs to see if they are being effective.
* Ensure that any action doesn't make things worse than they already are.
One of the first items on Dr. Mary Beth William’s ethics list in her keynote address was Do no harm. This is the most important lesson that we have learnt over the years. Think before you take any action to ensure that you don’t make a bad situation worse than it already is.
CONCLUSION:
The cost of these programs is insignificant compared to the benefits they provide and as such have been fully supported by management. We are now moving towards a holistic approach to the mental and physical health of our employees by bringing all our services under one umbrella to avoid repetition and coordinate our efforts.
HOLISTIC HEALTH & WELFARE
Coordinating all these services:
Ø District Officer Human Resources manages: Peer Support Program, Critical Incident Stress Management, Family Support, and Chaplain - Pastoral Care Program.
Ø COGNITION: our mental health professionals and Clinical Director provide many services including: Employee Assistance Program, Critical Incident Stress Management, Injury Management Education, Conflict Resolution Training.
Ø Emergency Services Administration Unit: Workers Compensation and Rehabilitation, Claims Management, Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Consultants and Human Resource Consultants.
Ø Medical Practitioner: Medical Advice, Return to Work Clearance.
Ø Physical Training Officer: Health Advice.
Ø Fire Service Fund: Financial Advice.
Ø Superannuation Fund: Retirement Information.
Ø United Firefighters Union: Retirees Association.